Hexagram 60 for love
Hexagram 60 Measure in love and relationships
Jie is water above the lake: a lake holds just so much, and the limit is what makes it a lake rather than a flood. In a relationship the hexagram is about measure — how much to say, how much to ask, how close to stand — and the Judgment is both encouraging and cautionary: success through limits, but 'bitter limitation cannot be persevered in'. The Tuan adds that the pleasure of Dui below is what makes the restraint of Kan above bearable.
The lines sort the kinds. Line one stays in because the way is shut; line two stays in after it has opened and misses the moment; line three keeps no measure and laments; line four accepts a standard easily; line five sets sweet limits; the top line has made them bitter. For a question about love, the hexagram asks whether the boundaries between you are proportionate. A changing line in the lower trigram concerns timing — whether to hold back or come forward; one in the upper trigram concerns the quality of the limits themselves.
The hexagram in brief
Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
Set clear, livable limits — on spending, on words, on work — and keep them without turning them into punishment.
The judgment
節：亨。苦節，不可貞。Kieh intimates that (under its conditions) there will be progress and attainment. (But) if the regulations (which it prescribes) be severe and difficult, they cannot be permanent.
Which line changed?
A changing line sharpens the answer. Each line of 節 Measure has its own page:
- 初九Nine at the beginningstaying in · knowing when blocked · no blame
- 九二Nine in the second placemissing the moment · staying in too long · evil
- 六三Six in the third placeno measure · lament · no one else to blame
- 六四Six in the fourth placemeasure at ease · accepting the way above · success
- 九五Nine in the fifth placesweet measure · the centre · going on is honoured
- 上六Six at the topbitter measure · the way exhausted · regret passes
The same hexagram for
Questions
- Is hexagram 60, Measure, a good sign for love?
- Jie is water above the lake: a lake holds just so much, and the limit is what makes it a lake rather than a flood. In a relationship the hexagram is about measure — how much to say, how much to ask, how close to stand — and the Judgment is both encouraging and cautionary: success through limits, but 'bitter limitation cannot be persevered in'. The Tuan adds that the pleasure of Dui below is what makes the restraint of Kan above bearable.
- What does Hexagram 60, 節 Measure, mean?
- Water above the lake: the lake holds just so much. Success through limits — but bitter, excessive limitation cannot be sustained; measure that fits is the point.
Chinese text: the received Zhouyi (Wuyingdian lineage). English: James Legge, The Yî King, Sacred Books of the East XVI, 1882 (public domain).